To commemorate the 10th Anniversary of Live in HD, the Met Opera is presenting an encore of the first Live in HD title, Wolfgang Mozart’s “The Magic Flute.”
The Sedona International Film Festival will present “The Magic Flute” on Saturday, Dec. 12. There will be two shows that day at the Mary D. Fisher Theatre at 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. Plan to come early as Ed Ingraham will lead a pre-opera talk 30 minutes before each production.
The production was staged and produced by Broadway’s Julie Taymor of “The Lion King” fame. A wonderfully playful, visually-stunning presentation ideal for people of all ages, it features an imaginative integration of beautifully constructed puppets and world-class singers.
“The Magic Flute” is the Met’s abridged English-language version of Mozart’s “Die Zauberflöte.” Mozart wrote the original opera in German for a theater located just outside Vienna.
The story is told in a Singspiel [“song-play”] format characterized by separate musical numbers connected by dialogue and busy action, an excellent structure for navigating the diverse moods, which range from solemn to lighthearted, of the story and score.
The composer and the librettist were both Freemasons — the fraternal order whose membership is held together by shared moral and metaphysical ideals — and Masonic imagery is used throughout the work.
The cast includes Matthew Polenzani [Tamino], Nathan Gunn [Papageno], Erika Miklosa [Queen of the Night], Greg Fedderly [Monostatos], Ying Huang [Pamina], and Jennifer Aylmer [Papagena].
Tickets are $20 general admission, $18 for Film Festival members, and $15 for students. Tickets are available in advance at the Sedona International Film Festival office or by calling 282-1177. Both the theatre and Film Festival office are located at 2030 W. SR 89A in West Sedona. Visit the Sedona Film Festival website for more information.
